Wright: 'EastEnders has been a privilege'

EastEnders departee Gillian Wright has described her time with the BBC soap as a "privilege".

At the end of last month, it was announced that the 50-year-old actress - who plays bipolar sufferer Jean Slater in the Walford serial - will bow out later this year like her screen daughter Lacey Turner (Stacey Slater).

Speaking to Digital Spy on the red carpet at this year's British Soap Awards, she said of her departure: "Things can't last forever. I am an actress and it's all a big adventure, isn't it? It's wonderful to have been in it for so long. [Jean] wasn't meant to be a regular character, so to have crept in slowly, then become a regular... for the audience to love and for me to be able to play something a little quirky, fun and also bipolar has been a privilege."